Roller shaft for a vegetable peeler

ABSTRACT

An improved roller shaft for a food peeling machine that allows for an improved method of changing abrasive sections that are on the shaft, the improved shaft having a first and second end with removable retaining elements and the method involving the use of a hydrostatic cylinder to place a new abrasive section on the roller shaft thus causing the most worn section to slide off the shaft.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the shaft of a roller used in a foodpeeling device. More specifically and without limitation, this inventionrelates to a roller that can be accessed on both ends to facilitate thereplacement process of an abrasive section on the roller shaft.

In the art of food peelers, a plurality of rollers are used within apeeling chamber to peel the skin off food items such as potatoes orpistachio nuts. Hundreds of potatoes are placed in a hopper having anauger that propels the potatoes into a peeling chamber. As the potatoesprogress along the length of the rollers, the rollers, which have anabrasive material therein, skin the food product. Because of thismethod, the abrasive material used at the inlet end of the peeler wearsout much faster than the abrasive material at the outlet end of thepeeler. Consequently, to ensure that maximum use is garnered out of theabrasive material on the rollers, the abrasive material is split intoseveral sections. Thus, when a section at the inlet end of the rollerbecomes worn, that section may be replaced by taking the roller shaftout of the peeling chamber and removing that section from the rollershaft.

Traditionally, roller shafts have been made with a single end thatrotatably detaches from the shaft to allow access to the sections ofabrasive material on the roller. When a section is worn and needs to bereplaced, the end, as well as various sections of abrasive material needto be removed to gain access to the worn section.

The current method of changing the abrasive sections on a roller shaftrequires a time consuming and labor intensive process. Because only oneside of the roller end can be removed and likewise be removed from theroller shaft to gain access to the worn section, down time results. Thisdown time can result in substantial lost profits. Consequently, there isa need in the art for an improved roller shaft that will allow for quickchanging of abrasive material sections on the roller shaft.Additionally, there is a need for an improved method of replacing theabrasive material sections on a roller shaft that reduces down timeduring the replacement.

Therefore, it is a primary object of the present invention to providefor an improved roller shaft that allows for easy access to the abrasivematerial sections on the roller shaft.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an improvedroller shaft that allows access to the abrasive material sections onboth ends of the roller shaft.

Another object of the present invention is to use a hydraulic pump inorder to replace the abrasive material section of a roller shaftassembly.

These and others objects, features, or advantages of the presentinvention will become apparent from the specification and claims.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is an improved food peeling and processing device.The roller is mounted on the frame of the food processing device and hasan elongated body with a first and second end. The first end isrotatably secured to the frame and has a retaining element to holdabrasive material sections on the elongated body. The second endadditionally has a retainer block that also receives the second end inlocked engagement and additionally holds the abrasive material sectionsin place. By having a first and second retaining element, both retainingelements may be removed and the roller may be placed adjacent ahydraulic cylinder that places a new abrasive material section onto theshaft thus causing the other abrasive material sections to slide alongthe shaft forcing the most worn section off the shaft. Consequently, theretaining elements can be replaced and the roller shaft can be remountedon the peeling machine.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a peeling machine equipped with the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is an end elevation view showing the discharge gate;

FIG. 3 is an end elevation view of the end opposite the discharge gate;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing the reversed or inner side of thedischarge gate of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view taken along the lines 5—5 inFIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the roller shaft of the presentinvention;

FIG. 7 is perspective view of a retainer block; and

FIG. 8 is a plan view of the hydraulic cylinder block in associationwith the roller shaft.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

The peeling machine, device or means of the present invention isgenerally denoted by the reference numeral 10 in the drawings and thisdescription. Referring to FIGS. 1–3 and 6, the peeling machine 10 has aplurality of supporting elements or legs 12 supporting an elongated body14. The body 14 includes an infeed section 16, an output section 18 anda peeling section 20 between the infeed and output sections 16, 18. Thepeeling section 20 comprises a peeling compartment or chamber 22substantially enclosed by a plurality of walls or frame (FIG. 5).

The infeed section has a hopper 24 with a top opening for depositing theproduct to be peeled. The hopper walls 26,28,30,32 are slanted inwardlyand their lower edges define a bottom opening or mouth 34 disposed abovean infeed auger 36. The infeed auger 36, hereinafter referred to asauger, has one or more helical auger flight(s) 38 which provide acontinuous and consistent product infeed rate to the peeling chamber.The auger 36 and hopper 24 eliminate pinch points and product damage bywrapping the hopper wall 32 around the auger 36 to the ten o'clockposition looking in the direction of product flow. This ten o'clockposition allows product to seek a path either one side or the other ofthe auger flight 38. The product is not drawn into a pinch point, whichwould happen if the hopper wall 32 was tangentially vertical to theouter circumference of the auger. The auger rotation iscounter-clockwise and creates a down movement at the point of tangency.A lip 40 is formed at an obtuse angle at the bottom portion of wall 30.Thus, the bottom opening 34 of the hopper 24 is non-parallel to the edgeof the flight 38. The combination of the hopper surfaces 28–32, 40,hopper opening 34 and auger flight(s) 38, allow product to be run withno damage. The rotational speed of the auger 36 and its cubicdisplacement govern the product feed rate to the peeling chamber 22.

A limit switch 42 controls two levels within this hopper 24: 1) the topof the flights, and 2) the top of the hopper 24. Loading product to thefirst level (to the top of the flights) ensures the auger 36 iscompletely filled therefore the displacement of this auger 36 will feedproduct into the peeling chamber 22 at an exact, continuous, andconsistent rate. When the auger 36 is running the limit switch 42 willstop the peeler 10 if the product level falls below the top of theflights 38. This ensures a consistent product infeed rate to the peelingchamber 22. Secondly, this limit switch 42 also controls the upper levelof the hopper 24 (capacity) and signals incoming product transportingdevices to shut off when this limit is reached. The speed control ofthis hopper 24 is meant to be at the disposal of the operator who mustadjust the throughput rate of the peeler 10 to match other equipment toprovide a continuous flow through the entire line.

Moving into the peeling chamber 22 and referring to FIG. 5, a producttumbler 44, hereinafter referred to as tumbler, is rotatably mountedtherein and driven in conventional manner. The tumbler 44 has flexiblepaddles 46 mounted on a generally horizontal shaft 48 in the center ofthe peeling chamber 22. The tumbler 44 extends substantially parallel tothe longitudinal axis of the elongated peeling rolls 50 (FIG. 6). Thisassures that regardless of the friction between peeling surface andproduct that the product will tumble by the action of this tumbler. Thetumbler 44 rotates in the same direction as the product would naturallymove in the peeling chamber 22.

The peeling rolls 50 comprise a series of shafts 52 upon which areinstalled rolls or sections 54 a, 54 b, 54 c, 54 d, and 54 e havingvarious types of surfaces; such as abrasive, brush, pintle, lift, etc.Rolls 50 touch the product and peel, wash or otherwise have contact withor act upon the product. The rotational speed of the rolls 50 isadjustable and clockwise in the direction of the product flow. Onexceptions, multiple or individual rolls 50 may rotate in an oppositedirection to adjacent rolls 50 to intentionally create a pulling motionto eliminate debris from the peeling chamber 22, i.e. for cleaningpurposes. As product moves longitudinally along these rolls 50 acontinuous effect between peeling rolls and product provides therequired end result of peeled or washed product.

Adjustment to the speed of the peeling roll 50 is one means of creatinga desired effect; a second means is adjusting the load or amount ofproduct within the peeling chamber 22. The time product takes to travelthe length of the rolls 50 is the time allowed to peel or wash toaccomplish the desired end result, however this time is a factor of thetotal line capacity and therefore retention time is not a part of thisinvention theory. With this in mind, adjustments such as roll speed andload level within the peeling chamber are the controls used to createthe desired peeling or washing effect.

As the peeling rolls 50 rotate they create tumbling action within themachine 10. This natural tumbling of the product, or when assisted by atumbler 44, creates action of the product within the peeling chamber 22.This action allows the entire outer surface of the product to come incontact with the peeling or washing surface of the rolls 50. This areaof contact is measured by the diameter times the length of the peelingroll 50 and gives square feet of surface area for the product tocontact. Increasing the rotational speed of the rolls 50 increases theavailable area for the product to contact the peeling or washingsurface. Inversely with the decrease of the rotational speed of therolls 50 the surface area is decreased. This is known as the amount ofpeeling or washing area.

Moving to the output section 18 of the peeler 10 and referring to FIG. 2the discharge gate 56, hereinafter referred to as gate, is an adjustableload level control device. It creates an adjustable restriction of theproduct level within the peeling chamber 22; i.e., the higher the damand deeper the water. As best seen in FIG. 4, a pair of motors 58, 60respectively drive sprockets 62, 64 which engage a chain 66 fixed to theperiphery of the discharge gate 51. The gate 56 is journaled in asurrounding frame 68 and guided by guide rollers 70 so as to rotate andthereby be adjustable between open and closed positions when driven bythe sprockets 62, 64.

Product load within the peeling chamber 22 is varied by the position ofthe discharge gate 56. As the gate 56 is closed it creates a deeper loadof product in the peeling chamber 22 creating more pressure between theproduct and the peeling surface by building product on top of product.As the gate 52 is opened it allows product to flow from the machinecreating a lesser depth of load in the peeling chamber 22 thus creatingless pressure between product and peeling surface. This is known as theeffect of the peeling or washing surface.

Therefore, with a consistent and continuous infeed rate and a givencapacity of product throughput, the two adjustments needed for thedesired end product result are effect and amount of the peeling orwashing surface. The gate position determines the effect and rotationalspeed of the rolls 50 determines the amount. These two adjustments willinteract with each other at any volume of throughput within themachine's range of volume and speed. The primary control is the positionof the gate 56 (effect); the secondary control is the roll speed(amount). With consistent and continuous input capacities dictated bythe control of the auger 36, and balanced controls between gate positionand roll speed, end product results can be predicted.

As seen in FIG. 6, the present invention is an improved roller shaft 52.The shaft 52 has an elongated mounting section 72, a first end 74extending from the mounting surface and rotatably connected to a bearingon the encasing machine 10 for rotation. At the base of the first end 74are threads 76 for receiving a retaining element 78. Additionally, theshaft 52 has a second end 80 that has a central threaded bore 82 and amale key member 84.

As seen in FIG. 7, the retainer block 88 has a central bore 90 thatreceives and surrounds the second end 80. The male key member 84 of thesecond end 80 is received within the female groove 86 of the retainerblock 88 such that the second end 80 is in locked engagement with theretainer block 88. The retainer block 88 has a block portion 92 with acylindrical flange base 94. A threaded bolt or cap screw 96 fits intothe central bore 90 of the retainer block 88 and threadably engages thecentral threaded bore 82 of the second end 80, thus securing theretainer block 88 to the roller shaft 52. The retainer block 88 isrotatably secured to the frame such that the second end 80 which isreceived within.

As can be seen in FIG. 8, a plurality of sections 54 a–e are slidablysecured to the roller shaft 52 and retained by retaining element 78 andretainer block 88. Thus, the sections 54 a–e may be accessed from boththe first end 74 and the second end 80 so that a new section 54 f may beslid on the shaft 52 thus causing sections 54 b–e to slide along theshaft 52 thus pushing section 54 a off of the shaft. This process may beaccomplished by using a hydrostatic cylinder block to slide section 54 fonto the shaft.

In operation, when a food item enters the peeling chamber 22, thepeeling sections 54 a–b at the inlet end of the chamber 22 undergo morewear than the sections 54 c–e at the discharge end of the chamber 22because these sections 54 a–b at the inlet end of the peeling chamber 22perform a majority of the peeling. Thus section 54 a, which is closestto the chamber inlet, will need to be the first section that needs to bereplaced. When section 54 a needs to be replaced, after the machine 10is turned off, an individual will remove an entire peeling roller 50from the peeling chamber. Then, both the retaining element 78 and theretainer block 88 can be removed from the roller shaft 52. Next, a newabrasive section 54 f is placed on the hydraulic cylinder 98 and againstthe second end 80 of the roller shaft 52 such that when the hydrauliccylinder 98 is actuated, the abrasive section 54 f that is on thehydraulic cylinder 98 pushes against abrasive section 54 e and causesthe rest of the sections 54 a–d to slide along the shaft 52 thus forcingthe most worn section 54 a off of the shaft 52. Once the abrasivesection 54 a has been replaced, the retaining element 78 and retainerblock 88 can be resecured to the shaft 52 and the peeling roller 50 maybe placed back into the peeling chamber 22.

By using an additional removable retainer block 88 and a hydrauliccylinder 98, the present method of changing abrasive material sections54 a–e from the roller shaft 52 improves upon the state of the art. Thismethod enables an abrasive section 54 a to be replaced without theremoval of additional abrasive sections 54 b–e, thus, valuable down timeis saved. Consequently, the invention achieves all of its statedobjectives.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that other variousmodifications could be made to the device without the parting from thespirit in scope of this invention. All such modifications and changesfall within the scope of the claims and are intended to be coveredthereby.

1. A roller for a food processing device having a frame, the rollercomprising: an elongated body having a first and second end; at leastone abrasive material section slidably connected on the elongated body;the first end rotatably secured to the frame; and the second end of theroller received within a retainer block; and the retainer blockrotatably secured to the frame.
 2. The roller of claim 1 wherein theretainer block receives the second end in locked engagement.
 3. Theroller of claim 2 wherein the retaining element is threadably secured tothe first end.
 4. The roller of claim 1 wherein the retainer blockprevents movement of the abrasive material section.
 5. The roller ofclaim 1 wherein the retainer block is retained in locked engagementusing a cap screw.